Tongue Twisters=Word Fun

Books that mimic the sounds of machines or musical instruments, or that feature the sounds that animals make, are a great way to tune your child's ear to the sounds of letters and words, a helpful pre-literacy skill. And, for four and five year olds, nothing beats tongue twisters for hours of fun playing with words. Kids will revel in testing their ability to articulate these funny phrases, and they'll probably want to test you too!

One of the best books on tongue twisters I've seen lately is Six Sheep Sip Thick Shakes and Other Tricky Tongue Twisters by Brian P. Cleary. It features 22 original twisters, each whimsically illustrated. Best of all, at the back of the book Cleary shares tips on how to make your own tongue twisters! For other books on tongue twisters click here. Have fun!

If you're looking for a great read-aloud starring trucks, you can't go wrong with Alice Schertle's Little Blue Truck, a perennial favorite at our library. In this story the little blue truck greets each each animal it meets along the road with a "beep", and the animals respond in kind with their own unique greeting. The big bully dump truck however, doesn't have time for such greetings and nearly mows everyone down before plowing deep into the mud. It takes everyone's help to get unstuck, and in the end the bully dump truck acknowledges "a lot depends on a helping hand from a few good friends".

This book offers more than a good message about friendship. The animal noises, truck sounds, and rhyming couplets all work to help your child pay attention to the music in our language-a powerful pre-literacy skill that will come in handy when your child is beginning to read. Other good books in our library that feature trucks and construction sounds include Little Blue Truck's sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way, Jackhammer Sam, by Peter Mandel, I'm a Truck Driver by Jonathan London, and Wake up, Engines, by Denise Dowling Mortensen.

Can You Moo?

Toddlers love learning animal sounds, and while they do they're unwittingly developing their sound awareness, an early literacy skill. A fun new book that plays on this skill is Baby Says "Moo!" by Joann Early Macken.

In the book, we follow mom, dad, and baby as they head out of town and into the country for a picnic, encountering a variety of animals along the way. Everytime baby is asked what sound a particular animals makes, he replies "moo". When they finally spot a cow, baby is fast asleep.

Other great stories for toddlers featuring animal sounds include: Bark George by Jules Feiffer, Hello Day! by Anita Lobel, Meow said the Cow by Emma Dodd, Everywhere the Cow says Moo! by Ellen Weinstein, and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear? by Bill Martin.

Complement any of these books with a few fun songs like Old MacDonald, Fiddle-i-Fee, Five Little Ducks, or Baa Baa Black Sheep, and your child will soon be making animal sounds like a pro!

~Meg